For previous Ludum Dares I included some hard-to-read tips in some of the wallpapers I made. This time I will try and expand on them somewhat, with super-useful illustrations. To many of you, these tips will be lessons you've long learnt; if you're just starting out, pay close attention.

Let's get to it!

:one: After you settle on the concept of your game, figure out the absolute minimal requirements for it to work, and make that. You can keep extra features in the back of your head, sure, but get your core completed first.

:two: Remember: most players will only play your game for a few minutes, hook them in early.

:three: If you want your game to get rated, rate other games. Consider a 1:1 ratio; rate 20 games and you will likely receive 20 ratings yourself. Prioritize this over asking for ratings in a blog post.

:four: HTLML5/web games are more likely to get played and rated. Having to jump through hoops just in order to play your game will chase away a lot of people.

:five: Consider your game page on ldjam.com as part of your game. List the controls of the game there. Show some screenshots, but less is more if your game looks the same all the time. Five very similar-looking screenshots take up too much valuable real estate. Don't leave it empty either, though.

:six: You're making a retro 2D game? Cool! But if you rescale 2D art, rescale all assets by the same multiplier. Additionally, scale up x2 or x3, not x2.5 or anything else with a decimal point value, as that will distort your sprites.

That said, there naturally are exceptions to these rules. I have seen differently-scaled pixelart that somehow just worked. But those exceptions usually come from understanding the rules and parting ways with them intentionally in a well thought-out manner.

Now I am off to make a wallpaper that, this time, does not include these tips. :smile: